Malcontent or misunderstood? Ex-UFC fighter Todd Duffee opens up

Todd Duffee looks at the image on the TV screen and doesn’t recognize it.

It looks like him – the blond hair, square jaw and wide shoulders – but it sure doesn’t act like him. His friends agree. You could make a drinking game out of every time he has a facial expression without a line.

“Meathead” is the word he uses to describe his character.

Duffee (6-2) is not used to this acting thing. He’s a fighter. One year ago, he filmed “Never Back Down 2″ amid one of the most difficult periods of his life. Now, he’s trying to rebuild his career, and here’s this snapshot of him at a time he’d rather forget.

He had been cut from the UFC not long before he walked on set. He had lost his father and his best friend in short succession. He was injured and unable to fight. He was taking a ton of flack from MMA fans who thought he got fired from the UFC for taking the movie role (he didn’t).

Somehow, he kept it all together enough to act the part of a tough guy. But looking at the finished product, it’s both funny and surreal.

“To be honest, even talking about it now is – it was a good distraction, I hope,” Duffee told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The thing is, Duffee is a tough guy. He went undefeated in his first six fights, and he smashed all of his opponents. He holds the official record for the fastest knockout in UFC history at seven seconds. Two years ago, he was the next big thing in the UFC heavyweight division.

But he’s also just like everyone else with ups and downs, and all of his have been under the microscope. Losses to Mike Russow at UFC 114 and Alistair Overeem this past December at DREAM “Dynamite!! 2010″ put his fighting career on the ropes. So he did the movie as a way to regroup, a way to try something new, and a way to make some money.

“I think there were some things that were going on in my life that definitely overshadowed it, and just the overall experience – I wish I could have been more mature and not allowed the personal problems in my life to affect how good the experience was for me,” Duffee said.

He’s lucky to have had a guardian angel on set. Michael Jai White, the director and star of the movie and a longtime MMA fan, kept Duffee from going off the rails. He was the one that called Duffee’s gym, convinced him to audition for the movie, and helped him get through the audition. He took Duffee under his wing and gave tons of encouragement to the fighter as he fumbled his way through scenes.

“Michael Jai, I think, was kind of set on me from the beginning just because of my look and my background in martial arts,” Duffee said. “I don’t think my lack of personality took the opportunity away from me.”

Duffee’s real-life character has always been something of a polarizing topic. He’s been honest to a fault – and very conscious of what popular opinion holds. A lot of industry folks think he’s a jerk. There’s a well-circulated story that he yelled at a reporter filming his training. He said the person filmed him without permission and he wasn’t really angry.

But he’s always shot from the hip, at least when it comes to what’s on his mind. Before his cut from the UFC, he complained openly about his dire financial straights and inquired about a second job on a popular online forum. That rubbed some the wrong way. In explaining his decision to cut the 25-year-old, UFC president Dana White said he needed an attitude adjustment and questioned whether the UFC was what he really wanted.

Of course, Duffee was venting frustration about his situation at the time. Of course he wanted to be the UFC, and still does. The salary of an up-and-coming fighter almost never matches the amount of attention received from fans. What was he supposed to do?

Even now, he’s living on a friend’s couch as he’s just returned to training after multiple injuries. He’s moved back to Las Vegas from Denver and is trying to get healthy so he can finally book a fight. He had a full ride at the University of Georgia, but he’s put school on hold to make it in fighting.

He’s still not exactly sure why things went so wrong with the UFC president, but onward and upward. The good news is that he feels happier than ever now that he’s had some time to process the difficult time in his life. His career certainly isn’t where it was just two years ago. But all the criticism and judgement and downright nastiness that have been directed his way haven’t broken his desire to compete.

“I’m involved in fighting because it’s absolutely what I love to do,” Duffee said. “I could lose 30, 40 more times, and I’m definitely going to try and get back out there again. That’s the nature of the business. You’re going to lose; you’re going to win.

“This year has been the year of bad health for me. But I think mentally I’m much healthier.”

Will he act again? Hard to say. Looking back, it was an interesting experience. He’s certainly got the look to play the tough guy. Acting that part, though, may actually be tougher than just being it.

“I’m a fighter first,” Duffee said. “That’s my love. That’s my passion. I’m not an actor. I didn’t do the glee club; I was involved with sports my entire life.

“Was it a good enough experience that I would go back? Definitely. I learned a lot. I would definitely give it another go as long as it didn’t interrupt what’s most important for me.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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